Circumstances
by PhoenixSong2013
Summary: Carter McKenzie and Anna Johnston were both members of the band Imminence. Touring the world, releasing CDs and DVDs, meeting fans and playing music were on their agenda for the next few years of their lives. NOT being kidnapped by a psychopath who thinks he's in love with them both. Especially not when two FBI agents join them in a race against time to save their lives.


Carter woke up to the sound of the birds singing through the open window and internally sighed. Her roommate, Anna, had a very typical habit of opening the curtains first thing when she woke, but Carter and Joss would both sleep in, to her annoyance, despite the noises that would float through the open window that Anna tended to leave open overnight. Joss, her other roommate and half-sister, was clearly in the bathroom, but Anna was most likely out on her morning run. Charlie and Mack, their bandmates, would have snuck past their room and into the kitchen to smuggle a few cans of coke before breakfast.

She rolled her eyes and stretched her arms above her head, slipping from between the sheets and straightening them before digging through her chest of drawers for a pair of clothes for that day. Settling on a smoky purple burnout shirt proclaiming a picture of the Eiffel Tower, emblazed with the words PARIS, with a black tank top underneath and a pair of navy blue skinny jeans, she set to work on dressing and brushing her long tangles of chestnut brown.

"You're up late," observed Joss, leaving the bathroom and yawning, despite being dressed in her usual casual summer dress. "I thought you were usually up before this time. Anna was ready to blow a fuse when she came back from her run and found you in bed. That must've been a wild – a wild party last night," she murmured through another yawn, and Carter grinned.

"Well, we did just release another album, Joss, you know that," said Carter, grinning wildly at the thought. "And you know that Mack and Charlie went on a junk food binge last night. Anna and I just watched a horror movie marathon. You were too busy out with your boyfriend."

Joss growled mockingly, shaking her head and grabbing her hairbrush, beginning to rake through her blonde locks. "Anna, Mack and Charlie are downstairs waiting for us. We're planning to go to the park today, to just hang out. I think that, if we get recognised, they plan to 'promote the album' even though the world knows. It's been published in loads of magazines." Joss rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And I think Anna wants to drag you around the corner to the shop to grab some drinks for it. You know how much of a pain she is about her drinks. Alcohol is so bad for you, could give you cancer you know. Coke, Dr Pepper, Sprite – all that shit just rots your teeth," she mocked in Anna's voice. "My lemonade is much better."

Carter chuckled. "Fine. But only because I owe Charlie a favour after he hooked me up with that hot boy at the club," she admitted. "He was hot, but he wasn't for me. You and Chuck, however… wow, what I walked in on in the tub last night – whew! But damn, he was toned."

"Don't talk about my boyfriend like that," said Joss, irritated, before smirking. "Even if it is true." The blonde set the brush down and linked her arms with Carter. "Let's get our asses down to the park."

"Fine. But tell Mack that he's driving us there."

Carter and Joss were accompanied on the stairs by Mack and Charlie, who grinned and gestured for them to go down the stairs first. Carter reached up and ruffled Charlie's messy red hair, ducking underneath his swipe and grinning before clambering onto the banister and sliding down to the bottom of the winding staircase, closely followed by Joss, who gave a short scream when Mack reached out and pushed her. They landed at the bottom in a heap to the sound of Anna fiddling with the keys, looking at them with an arched brow as the boys descended the stairs normally.

"I'm living in a house full of weirdos!" declared Anna dramatically, throwing her hands in the air. "At least Mack and Charlie can come down the stairs normally, but you two…? You're in a class all your own. What am I going to do with the four of you?"

"Love us!" declared all four of them in unison, and Anna gave a small sigh and unlocked the front door, shaking her head as she did so.

They piled into their van – a large, patchwork van that was their first album cover, and thus gave them a lot of unwanted attention – and Carter smoothly talked Mack into driving them to the park. He did so with little protest, as he knew that Carter was a bit of a reckless driver, while he was smoother and a little easier to read.

The journey was spent with Mack and Joss up in the front seats as Anna leaned forward and shoved a CD that compiled of their favourite songs into the CD player, which soon began to play Carter's favourite track titled 'Angel With A Shotgun' by the Cab. Soon Carter was singing along, her voice blending with the track's, her singer's attitude bleeding through as Charlie rolled down the windows and Joss began to rock along with an air guitar.

Charlie's fingers spread like the keyboard, beginning to play the chords, while Anna began drumming on Mack's seat as he drove. Mack was throwing his head back and forth as their voices tangled together for the chorus, soon accompanied with laughter once it became clear that Carter's voice was the only one that sounded even remotely fit for the music.

"That was so fun," breathed Carter, laughing breathlessly as she rested her head back against the headrest and grinned at the ceiling. Anna echoed the sentiment and did the same, dropping the drumsticks that she'd produced from her jeans' back pocket.

"We're almost there," said Charlie observantly, and Joss made a sarcastic 'no!' that had Mack chuckling as he started to park.

Carter rolled her eyes as she clambered out of the car, followed by Anna and Charlie as Joss and Mack piled out of the front and immediately ran, screaming, to the jungle gym just in front of her. Anna rolled her eyes and tugged on her leather jacket before following much more calmly, while Joss climbed onto Mack's back and forced him to carry her there and Charlie copied Carter.

Anna grabbed onto Carter's sleeve, pulling her down from the bottom of the slide and snapping to the others, "We're just going to grab the drinks and the sweets, loves. We'll be back in ten."

"More like an hour!" added Carter cheerfully as Anna dragged her around the corner and out of sight, out of the park and onto the pavement as they began the trek towards the corner shop just ahead of them. But they were walking along a woodland path, surrounded on both sides with trees, and Carter looked up at the trees hanging over her head and felt uneasy, like someone was watching them. Anna scoffed when she mentioned this, but it didn't make the feeling go away.

"Carter… I feel it now," admitted Anna after a moment of silence. "Like something's about to – oh!"

Anna had been jerked back roughly, and Carter froze as she spotted the man standing in front of the pale blue travelling van holding her against him, the gun pressed to her temple as he jerked her towards the doors; she could have made a run for it, she could have left while she could, but she couldn't let Anna go there alone. When Anna was in the van and the door slammed, the man grabbed her wrist and grabbed her towards him, his hand roughly kneading her hip as he pressed the gun to her temple.

Carter struggled desperately, but the man just cocked the gun at her and shoved her into the side of the van when she elbowed him in the stomach. He was wearing a black ski mask, his cruel blue eyes glinting at her as she winced and pressed herself back into the van, willing Anna to open the door and pull her in, but no sound came from inside.

Carter whirled on her heel and made a run for it, but the shot when straight into her leg and she gave a shrill, drawn-out scream as the bullet sunk into the skin of her thigh, sending her spiralling onto her back as she instinctively clutched at the wound.

The man reached under her arms and pulled her from the ground, dragging her towards the van and pulling open the door, revealing Anna, a bruise on her forehead. Carter could see her blood splashing over the gravel, but she felt too exhausted to even struggle again as the man hefted her roughly into the van, slamming the door as he left her in total blackness.

_Well. We're screwed._

Doctor Spencer Reid sighed as he made to stand up, but Penelope Garcia grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down once more, her eyes never leaving the screen. The conniving blonde had forced the whole team into her lair that morning before work begun and had trapped them in, sitting them down in front of her computer and forcing them to watch the release of a new album that she'd been anticipating. Over the past few weeks, Garcia had become obsessed with a new band – Imminence – and had slowly gotten them all into it.

On the screen were five figures crowded around a podium, laughing. The one in the middle, who he knew to be the lead singer Carter McKenzie, was grinning as she held up their new album cover, a dull flush in her cheeks from performing. Her green eyes were alight with happiness as she spoke to the audience and with one hand she was tucking strands of her long chestnut hair behind her ears. On her left was Anna Johnston, her midnight black pulled into a messy bun, still clutching her drumsticks in one hand while her other arm was wrapped tightly around the keyboard player, who was on Anna's left. Charlie Isaacs' red hair was mussed beyond belief, his hazel eyes wide in his skull in surprise, his chest heaving as his arms wrapped tightly around Anna, grinning.

On Carter's right stood the lead guitarist Jocelyn "Joss" Godwineson, her blonde hair twisted into a high ponytail on the back of her head, strands falling around and framing her face. She was hugging Carter tightly, beaming as she continued to bounce in her high heels on the balls of her feet. Next to Joss stood Mack Oliver, his hands ruffling through his blond hair and his blue eyes shining in the light of the spotlight that lit up their stage. Behind them their instruments and microphones were still set up, probably for an encore or a few more tracks of theirs, but Mack seemed oblivious to Carter's words of shock and gratitude in his surprise.

"Thank you so much," Carter was saying, and Garcia squealed. "Thanks so much to everyone out there – everyone who voted for us, everyone who bought our CD, everyone who even thought about us or watched us on YouTube before we went official. Without you, as cheesy and cliché as it sounds, I don't think we'd have gone anywhere with us. In the beginning, as sad as it is, we were just your average high school band – we really didn't think it would go anywhere, but when we started posting things on YouTube we were discovered and people liked us. I don't think I've ever felt so shocked and surprised and just so thankful to our fans who've stuck with us."

"Especially when Mack tried a solo career," interjected Anna solemnly, before laughing as Mack reached around Joss and Carter to whack her on the upside of the head. "Oh shut up, Mack. You know I'm teasing."

"Before I was so rudely interrupted," said Carter, though she was laughing slightly as the crowd roared their appreciation for their humour. "Thanks so much for everyone out there. I'm talking to you, who are sitting with their friends watching this online _two fucking weeks_ after this happened. I'm even talking to the old ladies who're watching this thinking how stupid and cliché we are for saying this and talking to people who can't talk back properly. Thank you all so much!"

The crowd roared and Carter smiled as she set down the award and returned to her microphone while the others returned to their instruments.

Slowly, the keyboard began a simple tune that set the audience down. And then it slowly became more complicated, with little twangs and clicks between them that had Charlie grinning at the audience and the drum starting up the beat while the guitars both begun strumming in unison, neither guitarist looking at each other. Reid supposed that they'd practiced enough to have to do it at the same time, but it was impressive nonetheless. Soon, Carter's fierce voice began singing with the music and the crowd cheered and roared as Carter rushed to the front of the stage to start hugging her fans.

"Oh my God," whispered Garcia, bouncing slightly in her seat. "Oh my God."

For Garcia's face could be seen on camera as Carter gently pushed aside two people to get to the third row, when the instrumental break filled in and she reached over to hug Garcia tightly, smiling and winking when she pulled back to skip back down the aisle and back onto the stage as her voice joined the instruments.

"You were hugged by _Carter McKenzie?"_ said JJ, in awe for a moment. "I am so jealous of you right now."

Both women had slowly fallen in love with the band of five, and both were fangirling as Garcia stopped the video and started babbling about how amazing they were. Morgan rolled his eyes as they got up to leave, and it was just when Garcia and JJ had begun to get loud when Hotch's head poked into her lair solemnly. "We've got another case."

JJ winced, as if remembering something, and stood up before gesturing that the others follow her. They piled into the bullpen and Spencer sat down in his usual spot, but JJ had tugged Garcia in to sit with them, much to the plump blonde woman's confusion. "This is something you should see, Pen," said JJ after a moment of confusion, as the bubbly technical analyst would usually find out about the case through phone calls.

"Now, this case is based in Washington, D.C. Yesterday afternoon, the band known as Imminence was at the local park when Anna Johnston and Carter McKenzie removed themselves from the group to go to the corner shop to buy them their lunch for their trip in the park. After half an hour and a thorough search of the corner shop, their bandmates reported them innocent. On the more secluded path from which it is assumed that they were both taken, the local police found a trail of blood and a friendship bracelet that belonged to Anna that lead to a set of tyre tracks. The remaining band members are at the station for interviewing once we arrive."

Garcia sat in stunned silence as Hotch slid the case files across the table to each of them.

"No offence, Hotch, but why are we taking the case?" asked Morgan. "It's not generally towards Behavioural Analysis, is it?"

"It is scarily similar to the abductions of several other pairs of girls across the D.C. area," replied Hotch solemnly.

Garcia was frozen, shaking slightly. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God."

"Garcia," warned Hotch. "You can't get emotionally involved, but because you love them so much, we're bringing you to Washington to speak with the bandmates. Your relation to them might be the trigger that they need to remember something important, or reveal something that they might have done."

Nodding, Garcia gathered her file and hugged it to her chest, mourning the possible loss of her favourite band.

"Wheels up in thirty minutes," Hotch continued, and the team nodded and got to their feet, ready to pack their bags and go.

Because God knew what had happened to the two girls by now.

Garcia blinked as she was ushered into the police station, numb to everything apart from the three figures sitting before her in small, cramped chairs. Mack had his head in his hands, his fingers running trails through his limp blonde locks and his tortured blue eyes full of guilt and pain. Charlie was massaging his temples, hunched over, and Garcia thought she could see tear tracks on his cheeks. Joss was curled up like a cat on one of the chairs, her knees hugged to her chest, her brown eyes pooling with tears as she sniffled violently.

It was a pathetic sight that had her heart breaking.

"Hi," said Prentiss softly, crouching down in front of Joss and offering her hand. "My name is Emily Prentiss. This is Derek Morgan, Penelope Garcia and Dr Spencer Reid. We're going to do everything we can to get your friends back. We're with the FBI."

"Just – please," Joss choked out, "I'll do anything. Just – please bring them back safe."

"I promise we'll do everything we can," swore Morgan, and Joss relaxed slightly. "Would you three consent to answering our questions about that day?"

"Anything," said Charlie in a strangled voice as Mack and Joss both stood instantly.

Garcia felt her heart shatter as Mack wrapped his arms around both Joss and Charlie, as if checking they were still there, before following them into the interrogation room. She sat down in the middle of the desk and watched them analytically, while Reid and Morgan both perched on the desk and Prentiss stood in front of the closed door.

"Can you tell us if there was anyone suspicious hanging around the park that day?" asked Morgan, down to the point.

"Well," said Joss, once both the boys had shook their heads. Their heads snapped up to meet hers as Reid leaned in in interest. "I remember walking past a man in all black leather, and he sort – he smirked at Carter when she looked at him, but I don't think she noticed. We passed him briefly… all I remember about him is that he had a thick beard and his eyes were ice blue. His hair was brown and bushy and he had a scar over his left eyebrow. I don't remember much else."

"Did you see what kind of car he was driving?" asked Prentiss.

"I – I think it was a blue camper van," Joss said uncertainly.

Mack wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed swiftly before letting go. He looked up at them for a long moment, and then seemed to recognise Garcia. "You – you're that woman in the third row of the award's ceremony," he realised. "Carter hugged you."

Garcia nodded. "I love your music," she said quietly. "And I really want you to keep making that music. So I'm going to do everything I can to get Carter and Anna back, I promise."

Charlie gave a strangled sigh. "Everyone we've seen has said that to us today," he growled. "But… look. We were just around the corner, we heard Carter scream. Joss heard the gunshot. Please. Find them. I know that we should have helped and that if we'd all gone this probably wouldn't have happened. Please – just find Carter and Annie. We need them. I need them," he admitted; "I promise. Ask us anything and we'll answer to the best of our ability. But…. Find them."

"We'll do our best," said Reid, feeling so much sympathy towards them. He had thought that they were fake, that they were plastic. Their jokes and teasing had made it seem like they weren't as close as they seemed to be. But now, seeing the desperation and the heartache on their faces, he knew that, for once, he'd been wrong about them.

"We'll do our best," he'd said to them.

Because that was all he could do.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Hi! Welcome to our first Criminal Minds story! And I say 'our' because I'm co-writing this with my little sister, FlyWithMeToNeverland, whose name is Olivia: I'm sorry to all of my Harry Potter readers who were excited when I published something, but really, I am in love with Criminal Minds, and so is Olivia. So we decided to write something. And really, this is obviously our first time writing together on a CM story, so please keep the insults down to a minimum, haters._

_Shit. I just sounded like a rapper._

_Damn._

_You're probably all surprised by this, but, as I've mentioned before, FlyWithMeToNeverland and PhoenixSong2013 are sisters. I told you I had a big family, guys._

_Right. Thanks for reading and (hopefully) reviewing, and please tell us off when we don't update because of our poor updating skills. You'll probably hate us both by the end of the story._

_Love you all!_

_Love,_

_Marlene_

**_Love,_**

**_Olivia_**

**_P.S: Thank you all so much! I didn't write this, but every even chapter is mine while every odd chapter is Marlene's. Just for future reference. And just so we don't get sued, we don't own Criminal Minds. This is probably the only disclaimer we'll throw in in the whole story, but... oh well - so please always come back to this. I doubt that that fact will change._**

**_Byeee! _**


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